In what ways can the use of .htaccess files impact the execution of PHP files as default documents on web servers like Strato, and how can this be optimized for better performance and ease of use?

When using .htaccess files on web servers like Strato, the default behavior may interfere with the execution of PHP files as default documents. To optimize performance and ease of use, you can specify the default document to be processed as a PHP file by adding the following code snippet to your .htaccess file: ```apache DirectoryIndex index.php ``` This code snippet tells the server to prioritize index.php as the default document to be executed when accessing a directory. This ensures that PHP files are processed correctly and efficiently on your web server.